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Riley
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Quick links: 01
- Split |
06 - Split/Sail
| 10 - Sail... Mljet
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14 - Dubrovnik cont'd |
18 - France |
21 - Cycling |
25 - Cycling cont'd |
29 - Villa cont'd |
32 - The Rest
Day 14 - Sunday - Day 2 in Dubrovnik
Today we did the museum circuit, various Cathedrals,
and
more exploring of the old city. Just before lunch, we found a nice
cafe in the square where I was able to plug in  and publish days 10-14,
check my email, check in with work and
get caught up with my staff and the on-goings there.
After that, Lisa and I left the old city via the Pile gate and climbed
the fortress tower on the northern side across the old. original
harbour. Lisa told me today was to be a Karsh free day. More
exploring, less clicking. So I left the good equipment at the
apartment, took the pocket Olympus Stylus (and no backup battery or
memory card). By the time we were back, the battery was dead and the
card full. But I was on a click budget. Tempted to go back
for another crack with the good stuff, but, I've seen it, experienced
it, and have a few snaps for the memory file.
The rest of today will be a down day for Lisa and I, blogging, chilling,
packing, and out for dinner. Early to the airport in the AM for a
flight that leaves around 6am. Next destination - Zagreb. So
Phase 1 Split, phase 2 sailing, and phase 3 Dubrovnik are done.
Phases left are Zagreb, Avignon, cycling Provence, and Seillans.
Two of five weeks will be up tomorrow night.
Here are a couple of
images of our apartment, one from atop the wall. Cheers.
A few more photos of Dubrovnik...
  
 
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Day 15 - Monday - Vivodina / Belošiće
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Up at 4am to head for the airport for a flight to Zagreb. When we
walked through the
 streets and main square of Dubrovnik, they were empty,
not a soul to be found. Wish I had a tripod and an hour, what
sense of life and country I could have captured. The ride to the
airport was amazing (even though in the dark). The car winding up
to the top of the hill behind the old city on a one
 way road hugging the
cliff with only a small guardrail keep us from the sea below.
Croatia may have its lowlands and flatlands, but most of it is hills and
valleys and mountains. You are always climbing something.
In Zagreb we rented cars (Lisa and I got a Volvo C30 - diesel - nice
car) and were off to the homeland.
The GPS did really well, we
didn't follow instructions twice, it didn't know of a road near the end,
but we had Wayne and his memories from '89 to do the rest. We
started at my uncle's (dad's brother) Vjekoslav's place (senior citizen home).
He now requires a walker, but he is still sharp, still very handsome for
78. When we met, he was overwhelmed and cried, we (as he) were touched.
The ride to here was amazing, up and down steep hills on one
lane wide
narrow paved roads, that twisted and turned like no other roads I've
been on (even the roads in France). It was then off for the village
where we encountered the home of my two aunts on my father's side, Katica (who retired back to Croatia from Halifax just this year) and
Ana. We started with a drink
and so toasted with a
glass of wine. She remembers me from 1968. Then, a surprise,
she heard we were coming, she offed one of her geese, had fresh bread,
red and green cabbage salad, ripe sumptuous tomatoes, peppers, and more.
What a feast. Followed by palečenke and various home made short
bread cookies. What am I talking about, it was all home made.
Then we walked down to dad's birth house and the surrounding area and a
stroll through her vineyard.
After that, it was off to my visit my aunt
(on my mother's side) Ana and her son Nikola a couple of doors down.
They live in the house my mother was born in.
Again, more drinks,
more food. Various home made hams and
sausages, cheese, bread and cookies. Wine and beer abounded.
Then a stroll down the old road to where dad grew up. All these
old houses, abandoned, in ruins. The young are moving away into
the cities and out of the country, as they do here in Canada, and there
is no one to live in them. So they use the land around them for
various crops. Tetka Ana got me to promise we'd be back in 2010
and stay a while. So, time soon to start planning Hrvatska
dvadecet i decet. I'd love that, living there in the country, it
would be good for my soul, my Croatian, and my feeling of family.
After goodbyes to all, GPS programmed, we were off to visit my aunt and
uncle on my mothers side who used to live in Dartmouth, Truro, Toronto
 before retiring back home. They are in a retirement home, we had a
nice visit with tetka Maria. Ujak (uncle) Drago was off elsewhere for a week due to
his sensitivity to breathing and so is more comfortable near the ocean.
Tetka cried as we left, asking us to come back to see her again.
A neat thing about the Croatian vocabulary is that we have 2 words for
uncle and 2 words for aunt. In that way, you know immediately
whose side of the family they are on. You don't have to say my
father's brother...
Another GPS setting and finally we were of to a hotel just outside
Plitvica so that we will be ready to visit first thing in the morning.
What a long and emotional day.
House where dad was born
(Renovated) house where mom was born
View of a nearby village where my parents they went to church and school
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Day 16 - Tuesday - Plitviča / Zagreb
Today it was cold. Started out damp, cloudy, thinking of raining
and 4C. Got up to 13C and the sun tried to come out around noon
(it got brighter), but it never immerged. I heard it was 4C in
Halifax yesterday, and I'm good with that. Weather for tomorrow is
back over 20C.
Some had thoughts of skipping Plitviča but luckily
we did not. About 600,000 people visit this Eden each year, and we
were treated to a vista one cannot describe. You'll have to just
look at the photos.
Around noon we headed for Zagreb. There is a toll highway, speed
limit 130km/hr. I had it up 160 and cars were blowing by me.
We checked into our hotels and were out for a walk, some exploring and
dinner. Some of the highlights of Zagreb we saw were the
Kamenita Vrata, Gornji Grad, Donji Grad, and
the cathedral. Tonight was Wayne and Linda's last night, they head for
home tomorrow.
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Day 17 - Wednesday - Zagreb
Hey, we slept in today, to about 9am. Had a great breakfast, and
then were booked for a one hour tour for two of Zagreb in a limo.
Marko, the limo driver was very nice. His instructions were to
show us the old city.
But since we saw it last night, he was very
flexible. We even parked and got out for a walk in a park called Maxsimir in the center of the city. It is huge, miles long and
wide. It contains the Zagreb zoo. After a nice stroll
through the park with our guide answering questions and giving u s the
low down, back in the car for more of the city. An hour and a half
later we arrived back at the hotel.
Then Lisa and I headed
out to see a few things we did not get to see
last night in the
Gornji Grad (upper city). We went up in
the Vozna Karta, one of the steepest funiculars in the world. It
climbed 30 meters over a diagonal distance of 66 meters. I
remember going up in this in 1968 and just wanted to do it again.
Saved a lot of climbing. Last night, we actually climbed the hill
via the old streets an were a block away from the top of this without
realizing it. Trip up cost 4 kunas each. At the top, is a
tower called the Burglar's Tower (Kula Lotrščak). Again, as
always, we climbed the stairs, and as always, you don't pay until you
get half or more of the way up. It is one of the best ways to see
the city, what a vista, what panorama.
Half way up the tower, there is a canon sticking out one of the windows.
Each day at
noon, they fire the noon gun from here. Hey we do that
in Halifax too! We then went by St. Mark's church, the one with
the fancy tiled roof on our way to the Zagreb Museum. Lisa and I
have visited some impressive museums in Paris and London, this one was
not near the same scale as those in relation to the size of the building
or venue, but the creativity used to depict the history of Zagreb from
when it was first settled to after the war in the '90s was fantastic.
From the museum, we walked some more, through the upper city, stopped to
split a pizza, and walked by another place I remembered from 1968.
The place I tasted my first European ice cream. Sherbet-like,
wasn't sure about it then but ask me today, there is no better ice
cream. The back to the hotel.
Lisa was getting a
 special
candlelit, rose pedalled, aromatic, bubble bath set up in our tub by
hotel staff while a slaved on the blog. There is no justice.
Tonight, we have a special candle lit dinner waiting for us in just
under an hour. Last day in a spectacular, lively, busy city.
Population here in the past 10 years went from one to one and a half
million. The architecture here is to be seen. Influenced
from many different cultures, very old and well preserved, making it
through many wars and even an earthquake. There are so many parks
and squares, open areas, green areas, where people congregate to sit,
eat, neck, walk, walk their dogs. Zagreb is very dog friendly.
Our hotel even allows dogs. One thing you do see a lot of and it
is a shame, is graffiti. And not of the artistic kind, or football
related; but just kids spray painting "crap" all over the stone
buildings. There is construction here everywhere, renovation and
restoration going one everywhere. I think I could spend a few more
days here, and look forward to returning one day soon.
Now lets me tell you about the wines in Croatia, red only of course
since that is all we drink. EXCELLENT. Our favorites were
St. Klement and Dingač. Not sure which we like better, drank two
bottle of each. We also enjoyed a few bottles of Plavač, various
versions of it.
Go to Day 18
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Quick links: 01
- Split |
06 - Split/Sail
| 10 - Sail... Mljet
|
14 - Dubrovnik cont'd |
18 - France |
21 - Cycling |
25 - Cycling cont'd |
29 - Villa cont'd |
32 - The Rest
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